8. Like your new wife?

EIGHT

Like your new wife?

Thursday, May 3, 2057

Lower North Lakes, Precinct 153

Cauldron City, Nebraska.

Armed with good coffee and backed with sufficient sleep, I strolled into my office to discover chaos in the form of three technical support staffers, Margaret, Amy, and Lily, hard at work installing a new digital murder board. The one they worked with had more than a few inches on Jace’s, which had spawned envy among everyone despite nobody minding the white unicorn had gotten one first.

I licked my lips and looked it over, wondering what sort of beautiful toys hid within its shiny display.

Margaret, an opal dragon somehow related to Captain Farthan, laughed at my expression. “Like your new wife?”

Having played with Jace’s board, I would accept the insanity and call the board my new wife, especially if it kept the techs happy with me. “She’s gorgeous. Why do I have a new wife? Can I have a second wife in Cauldron City? This was not a factor yesterday.”

“You can have up to three wives. We’ll be installing your second wife after we’re done with this one.”

Miranda regarded my new toy with wide eyes. “You got a big television?”

“You know the digital murder board I was playing with that belongs to Jace?”

The cadet nodded.

“This one is bigger, badder, and apparently my new wife.” I wanted to give my new wife a loving pat while wishing my dignity well on its journey. “What do I owe you ladies for coming in early?”

“Smithson promised quesadillas once he’s back in the office. We would have been done twenty minutes ago, but the FBI asked us to get you hooked up with all their databases, and that’s a bit of extra work. We’re just making sure everything is in working order at this stage before we bring in your second wife.”

With a board that nice, would I need a second wife? What sort of second wife did the women have in mind for me? “And what is my second wife?”

“You’re getting a computer upgrade. We audited the third floor, and you have the oldest desktop still functioning. Your second wife is a new desktop and a laptop to go with her. You’ll need the laptop to work from home.”

Christmas had come early, and as I refused to lower myself to the same ridiculousness as most of the station, I settled with a smile and saying, “Thank you, ladies.”

All three of them grinned at me and went back to work, fiddling with the board and turning it on and off several times between sessions of adjusting settings. Leaving them to their work, I ushered Miranda out of our office so we wouldn’t get in the way. “I guess I’m going to be repeating a little bit of my work from yesterday, although that’s a good thing, considering what we learned last night.”

“Do you normally take your work home with you?”

“No, I don’t. Tonight, I’ll go grocery shopping and pay my family a visit. The house should be safe enough if you don’t want to come with me. I think Lance and Rubella went overboard layering in protections. Honestly, I’ll use my family as a sounding board tonight, and I’ll have the more rambunctious of my brothers and sisters play out a gang war so I can observe the ingenuity of children. Sometimes, I think of something as a result of watching them. I’m one of ten kids, although I’m the eldest.” I worried for my flock of hummingbirds, but Yuri had sent the precinct’s vet over to monitor the eggs and consult with Dr. Erik and Mrs. Dr. Erik, who promised all the birds should make it unless something drastic happened.

While I trusted them, I also hated the idea of Marrinni grieving over something outside of his control.

Leaving the birds would test my patience. If I could talk Yuri into watching the females and their nests, I’d take Marrinni to also introduce him to my family.

“I can go with you? To meet your family?”

“Sure. They love meeting new people. They are, one and all, rather extroverted. We’ll leave exhausted, but it’s fine. They don’t live too far from me, and they’re good about sending me home in time to get decent sleep.” My phone pinged, and I discovered a summons from Captain Farthan. The message indicated I should bring my cadet with me. “It seems the captain would like a word with us.”

“Again?” Miranda sighed. “It was just some shoes. I swear.”

When we reached the cubicle farm, the detectives who enjoyed being out in the open space grinned at us, saluted us with their coffees, and wished us luck. “Ah, but it wasn’t just some shoes. It was his shoes. As such, we must be worshipped for having the courage to dare steal from an opal dragon.”

Miranda relaxed, and she grinned at me. “I really thought the police would be more dour.”

“Oh, we can be dour, especially if one of our own gets injured in the line of duty.” We entered the cubicle farm, and I spotted Paul chatting with one of the office extroverts, a younger detective we’d picked out of last year’s batch. “Geri, can I steal Paul for a few minutes?”

“Sure, but only if you hug him before returning him.”

I laughed at the warning that my former and future partner needed some attention. Before the elephant could protest, I hurried over and hugged the man, giving him a solid round of patting to his back. “Can I tell Miranda about the nail?”

“Go for it. Jace isn’t here today, so we won’t have to witness him turn numerous shades of green.” Paul considered the woman, and while I was impressed he lasted ten whole seconds, he went in for a hug. Fortunately for my sanity, the cadet went with the other shifter’s flow. “I was doing a pursuit on foot and took a nail to the foot. Jace does not handle when a fellow cop bleeds well at all, which is hilarious now that we know he’s a unicorn. Unicorns deal with copious amounts of blood often. But Jace? I thought he’d faint by the time I got that damned nail out and had it treated. I learned the hard way that shoes don’t protect against nails nearly as well as I thought. Oh, Lovell? Can you redo the protections on my shoes?”

“Sure. Take them off, and go tell the captain that I stole your shoes for five minutes. If we’re lucky, you’ll flush him out with the stench of your socks.”

The elephant snickered, kicked off both his shoes, handed them over, and headed off to tell the captain we’d be delayed. I returned to my office long enough to grab one of the stones from my drawer, set the shoes on my desk, and used the stone to draw a runic pattern on the sole of each shoe. The stone glowed, as did the rubber. Five minutes later, feeling like I’d done a sprint down the street, Paul would be safe and sound from nails for at least a month.

Then, because I could be a benevolent being, I eyed the three women and ordered, “Shoes, please.”

They handed over their footwear, and I repeated the process, as the last thing I needed was to deal with another nail incident. “Miranda, give me your shoes.”

The cadet watched with wide eyes as I protected her feet, too. As the last thing I needed was a rusty nail up a heel, I did my shoes last.

“You’re made of light,” she whispered, and she pointed at the stone I’d used to set the protections into the shoes. “The stones glow when you use them, and you bring light with you where you go.”

I reminded myself I dealt with a woman enamored with magic, something I’d learned from an early age. Once upon a time, I’d been the same way. The shine had never worn off, and it reflected in how I used my runes and stones. “I wouldn’t go quite that far, but yes, my magic often expresses itself with some light. Not always, but often. I don’t know if you have any significant aptitude to be a magicker, but I’m happy to teach you a few tricks that anyone can do.”

“I’d like that.”

Once I put my shoes back on, I wandered in the direction of the captain’s office, promising my fellow cops I’d do the same workings on everyone’s shoes, limited to no more than ten pairs a day.

The captain hated when his officers overly exhausted themselves doing extra work.

Paul chatted with Captain Farthan in the doorway of his office, and I bumped shoulders with the elephant before heading in with Miranda trailing behind me. “You wanted to see us, sir?”

“Close the door behind you, Paul. We’ll have a proper one-on-one tomorrow. Block out two hours, and we’ll go over everything you need.”

Uh oh. For Paul to need a two hour session with the captain meant something was going on. I waited for my former partner to close the door before asking, “Is everything okay?”

“Paul’s fine. He wants to take some supplementary courses while you’re working with Miranda, and he wanted to see if we could work him being out of the station for a while. We absolutely can, and it’ll be good for him to improve some of his skills. He’s got enough seniority to apply for the supplementary education, but the situation has never been right for him to block off time enough to advance his education. With you working with Miranda, he can take the time. We’ll be discussing his course options, work schedule, and how to make certain he gets to see you sufficiently. I’m going to shuffle things around a little so he’ll be in a trio with you two. That’s part of why I asked you to come see me. It will count as overtime, but I’d like to send Paul over to your place two hours a day during his schooling. Your home is quiet, protected, and he’ll be able to focus.”

“Sure, I don’t mind. Miranda?”

“I don’t mind.”

Captain Farthan raised a brow.

“She’s staying in my guest bedroom until this case is over. After she showed me how the thieves were accessing properties, I determined it would be trivial for them to enter her apartment building. Once inside, all they had to do was bust down a door after climbing a few flights of steps to get to her. Lance and Rubella warded my property the same way they warded Jace’s, so she’s as safe as I could make her. They also added wards to protect the hummingbirds.”

“I’m aware. I received the bill this morning, and I sent it to accounting to pay it off without a peep of complaint about it. I got the medical bill and report for your charges as well.” Captain Farthan reached into one of his drawers, pulled out an envelope, and offered it to me. “This is your bonus check for agreeing to care for Marrinni and his ladies along with his babies. The amount is determined by the habitat you’re providing, protections, and number of birds. Also, try to impress upon Marrinni that he does not need to set records for highest number of eggs per nest. If he needs additional females to cover his latest clutch, let me know.”

“Dr. Erik and Mrs. Dr. Erik were satisfied with the number of eggs per nest,” I reported.

“That’s good enough for me. Have Marrinni limit to no more than three breedings per session until we see how many eggs his females produce, that way we can distribute eggs better among the nests. I’ve been told all the eggs should survive?”

“Dr. Erik was not in a mood to let nature run its course last night.”

“Unsurprising. He has a soft spot for the birds. I’ve assigned Marrinni to home guard duty for the next week. His job is to keep an eye on your property and take note of anyone who takes too much of an interest in your home from the street. I’m taking the liberty of having security cameras installed with a special switch he can activate when something happens he wants to have noted. That will be handled this afternoon. It’s a real job for him, and it keeps him close to his nests. They should be hatching within eight days, so we’ll play it by ear if they haven’t hatched by then.”

“Can Yuri come over to keep the flock company tonight while I visit my family? Marrinni doesn’t handle isolation well, and I want him to meet my family.”

“Considering how concerned she is over the nests and having transferred the eggs, I’m sure I can convince her to swing by your place. How do you like your new wife?”

“She’s very pretty,” I replied. “I don’t know what I did to deserve my new wife, but I love her very much.”

Miranda giggled, plopped down onto one of the seats in front of the captain’s desk, and grinned at me. “You should have seen his face, Captain Farthan. His eyes got all wide, and I thought he might cry when he saw that thing in our office. He didn’t even protest having multiple wives.”

“You can only have one sentient wife, and you’ll have to make sure she understands your other wives aren’t actual competition.” The opal dragon snickered. “You’re getting the board because while Smithson is the official lead of the investigation, you’re his backup, which means you have to be able to do the same level of work. When I’m being absolutely honest, as soon as he’s off his hospital shift, I’ll be telling him he can pass the lead position to you so he can learn under you and Paul. You have to teach your cadet anyway, so it works out well. I’ve gotten a good preview of his skills, so I’ll be able to assign him to investigations he can genuinely handle. Had I known how bad this case would become, I never would have assigned it to him in the first place.”

I read between the lines: the captain needed me to convince Jace he wasn’t being punished by being taken off the case. “I’ll take care of transitioning Jace to a new case. I’ll definitely want him for this case, but I’ll have him work the elements of investigation I think he’ll excel at while I handle the puzzle work. Then I’ll work him on investigations so he can learn and have a better idea of what he needs to do.”

“Please don’t break that poor unicorn’s heart with the letdown.”

“He has to learn. Everyone gets taken off cases now and then for reasons like this, and it’s better he gets the heartbreak out of the way sooner than later.” I shrugged. “I’m renewing the protections on shoes this week and next. I wanted to let you know I’m doing it. I took care of the ladies in my office, Paul, myself, and Miranda.”

The captain took off his new shoes and plopped them in front of me. “Do mine and head home an hour early today. I’ll have accounting cut you a check for the work before you leave. I had them audit the price for nail incidents, and you’ve saved us thousands of dollars in health care premiums and fees. After discussing with the commissioner, you’re getting book rate for the work, and he’s hiring other magickers to handle the other stations.”

“But it only lasts for a month,” I muttered.

“Other magickers only last two weeks, and we’re getting more than the magicker fees in premium discounts for enhancing protection on our footwear. You can do five pairs a day without missing a beat, so if I have you doing daily shoe protections when you get in, you’ll cover most of the third floor with no problems.”

“I can do ten,” I admitted. “I just won’t want to leave the station for an hour afterwards.”

“I’ll let accounting know and adjust the payment for the shoes. Pick three more shoes to target today and go make friends with your new wife. Things have been quiet.”

“Too quiet?” I asked.

“It’s definitely too quiet. I don’t know what’s going on, but when it hits, it’s going to be bad, whatever it is. The animals are getting nervous, and the birds are absolutely itching to work.”

I winced.

When the birds itched to work, some instinct warned them of trouble. We’d learned long ago to listen to our feathered friends.

Somehow, they always knew.

“How has Paul been doing?”

“You’ve been showing up just enough to keep him stable, and sending him over to your place two hours a night will work. You’ve done wonders with him. And yes, you’ll continue to get your payout for dealing with the crabby elephant. Can I get you to take him to your family in two or three weeks? That should contain the beast.”

“I’m headed over tonight, and there’s no reason he can’t meet us there.”

“I’ll make sure he knows he has a date with your family—and I’ll take care of calling your father so he’s aware of the number of bodies.”

“I’ll bring Marrinni if Yuri can guard his females and babies.”

“That won’t be a problem. How is he settling?”

I chuckled at the thought of the family of birds, who had freaked out come breakfast time and they realized they had their own personal nectar flowers each and a yard full of treats to enjoy. “Everyone was excited this morning. My yard has been transformed into a hummingbird paradise overnight, and they don’t have to share the feeders. Everyone has picked their flower on each feeder, and they know I’m going to refill them all before work and before bed, so they are confident in their next meal. Add in the revamp of my lawn that Lance and Rubella did, and they’ve entered their personal version of heaven. They’re as protected as magic can make them, their eggs are safe, and they aren’t worried about losing any of the babies.”

“Excellent. Once the babies are safely hatched, we’ll start practical work with Marrinni. He’s about ready to head out with you. Be aware you’ll be carrying him more than some of the other hummingbirds. He’s one of our weakest flyers.”

“Like Mikhal?”

“Even worse, but yes. Mikhal will be accompanying Jace to the hospital for his first actual work shifts. We aren’t going to get much more improvement out of him on the flying front, so we’ll accommodate him as needed. I’ll have a nest installed in the front of your cruiser. It’ll be portable so you can hang it and move it as needed. Also, Miranda? You are going to be issued a vehicle eventually. I’m going to give you an SUV suitable for canines. We’re going to have a few wolf-dog puppies, and we have a second washout.”

“Unsuitable for K-9 service but suitable for us?” I guessed.

“Precisely. She’s fantastic at scent work, but she’s even less aggressive than Misfit.”

I snickered at the thought of a wolf-dog incapable of showing any aggression. “How does she handle the birds?”

“She loves the birds, and we think she’s a borderline sentient. She’s far smarter than the other dogs, but she can’t handle hurting anybody.”

Adding a wolf-dog to my home would complicate matters, but if she had borderline sentience, she would need a specialty home.

I could handle her, and the captain knew it.

“Will the station be handling her food bill?”

“Yep. We’re handling all the feeding and vetting bills for the work dogs. Your training will be addressed during work hours. Miranda, if you prove adept at handling the dogs, we’ll be able to delay pushing you through the academy. That’ll let you expand your education, do a job that doesn’t require the academy to work with us, and keep your employment ongoing. The judge will like it, as having long-term purpose meets his requirements. Also, I’ll have the apartment you were given set up as a decoy; that’ll let someone else move in, and some magicker tricks will let us fool people into believing you live there when you don’t. I’ll have your rent payments transferred to Lovell, which will maintain the court order.”

Captain Farthan reached into a different drawer and pulled out a copy of the employee handbook, smacking it down on the desk. “It’s quiz time, as it seems like I may have a fraternization situation on my hands. Lovell, tell me the rules.”

I rolled my eyes at the hints being lobbed at us from just about everyone we knew. “Keep all relationships professional at work, notify you of any engagement in relationships, and should fraternization result in pregnancy, contact Dr. Erik. Also contact Dr. Erik prior to any pregnancies so he can participate in appropriate family planning, as there’s little black unicorns love more than family planning.”

Captain Farthan clapped. “Excellent. It seems you have remembered the details from the employee handbook. Miranda, the rules are fairly simple. I’ve trained my boys from day one to let the women hold the reins of any out-of-office relationships. If you wish to engage with Lovell in activities generally considered to be inappropriate for work, it’s on you to make any and all proposals. At the other station, the men are the ones who make the proposals. Other stations are more lax, but we’ve been saddled with the division of gender issues Captain Dupont started. So, we maintain the tradition of the support staff gender controlling fraternization. It’s worked out for us so far, and it keeps the peace. Our sister station is getting an additional man, who will be partnered with one of the women. We haven’t decided who will be sacrificed.”

One possibility came to mind, and while I’d miss him, he’d thrive. “Paul. The women would have no problems with his relentless need for affection, we’d see him often, and he’d do well there. Give it to him as an option. He loves the ladies over at the other station.”

“That thought had occurred to me, but I’d really like to keep him with you and Miranda. However, I might send him over temporarily while the ladies cherry pick their next man. They can’t take Grimstone. Smithson is off the list as well. The unicorn is mine .”

I considered the other options. “Yvon. The purple paint incident has all the ladies worried about him, and he gets on well with them. If he has trauma from the incident, switching him to a new station under amicable circumstances would solve that.”

Captain Farthan narrowed his eyes. “But then I’d have to find a new detective.”

I pointed at Miranda. “She’s going to promote early. She’s quick on her feet, she’s eager to work, and she has good ideas. We’ll just run one detective short while she’s learning the ropes. It won’t be traditional, and I expect that I’ll be revisiting patrols while teaching her how to be a cop from the ground up. A refresher through the academy won’t do me any harm. If anything, I’m overdue to be sent back to preschool for a while.”

“I can justify sending you to the academy as an instructor for most courses, and you could use some remedial driving lessons. I still can’t put you in an interceptor as a driver without worrying about my vehicle or you.”

I bowed my head. “I hate going over the speed limit.”

Miranda nudged me with her elbow. “You hate going over the speed limit?”

“He’s literally the safest driver on the force. He will if he absolutely must , but he would rather not. If you can break him of this, you’ll get a bonus check, Miranda. Seriously, we’ve been waging this battle for years with him.”

“Give me a fast car, a few hours at the track, and forgiveness should the vehicle be destroyed. I can turn him into a speed demon. I might have to teach him how to have fun first, but I’m ready for a good challenge. Have you tried him on a motorcycle yet?”

The woman’s confidence worried me. “This sounds like a bad idea.”

“It sounds like a great idea. I’ll find a car for you, and I’ll reserve the derby track for you. As for motorcycles, the first and last time I tried, he turned green. I wasn’t up for breaking one of my cops. If you can get him through a motorcycle safety course and get him prepped for his license, I’ll be forced to say nice things about you to the judge.”

I did not appreciate Captain Farthan’s eagerness to expand my motorized vehicle experience. “Motorcycles are death traps.”

“Clearly, the problem is anxiety and a lack of security. Can you send me the specs on the interceptors? I haven’t seen anything about the vehicles.” Miranda rubbed her hands together. “I might have been dirt poor, but I loved the drag race circuits. Sometimes, I got to drive. I’ve done derby, too.”

I realized we had more than a petty thief on our hands. “Please tell me you didn’t steal any of the cars.”

“I solemnly swear I’ve never stolen a car. Or a motorcycle. I did steal a boat once, but I returned it before the owner realized it was gone. There was a drowning kitten, and I can’t swim.”

“Lovell, you will take her to the pool and teach her how to swim. In exchange, you will accept driving and motorcycle lessons from her. I expect you to be confident with going over the speed limit. Failure to meet average skill level with the interceptors means you will be going out with Smithson in the Blackwing.”

Having witnessed the white unicorn zip off in the black car, if that happened to me, I foresaw my soul leaving my body. “I will do anything, but please don’t put me in a car with Smithson.”

Captain Farthan chuckled. “I am expecting good things from you, Cadet Miranda. Bring my detective back a little more willing to speed and more confident behind the wheel.”

“I’m confident behind the wheel!”

“Old ladies in antique cars drive faster than you do, Lovell. If you require therapy for previous crash trauma, do go to human resources and request it. You know we offer free therapy for all officers. And no, Paul didn’t snitch on you about your inability to speed. I just paid attention to who was driving whenever you were involved with a chase. And for some reason, Paul always drove.”

“Angering the elephant who enjoys driving like a lunatic is never wise. And I was too busy holding on for dear life and praying. I’m only religious when Paul is behind the wheel.”

The elephant held most responsibility for my refusal to drive over the speed limit. He viewed the number as a challenge, and he tracked how fast he could go while in pursuit. The faster he went, the happier he became. I gulped, well aware of what would happen to him if our captain found out about some of his exploits, which involved exceeding the recommended top speeds .

If the vehicle could go faster, Paul found a way to make it go faster.

“Wow. Captain Farthan, he actually paled.”

“I see. All right, Lovell. Confess. How fast has your partner been going?”

“How fast can his car go? The answer is that, except he always finds a way to make it go faster.”

Paul would one day forgive me for tattling. When the opal dragon asked a direct question, only a fool tried to hide the truth.

Captain Farthan sighed. “Seriously, Lovell?”

“He’s never crashed.”

“No, he’s just terrified the life out of you with his driving. I knew there had to be something going on. There is no such thing as a perfect partnership. You get close, but this explains a lot. One of you has to be sane behind the wheel. The other is an elephant, and nobody accuses an elephant of sanity, especially the elephant.” Bowing his head, the opal dragon sighed. “Miranda, please be sensible with his lessons and ease him into it. I want him able to handle doing a hundred without breaking out in a sweat.”

“I can do that. Get me a diesel pickup truck without a governor. That’ll cure him in a hurry.”

“You can’t have a pickup as your main vehicle, Lovell.”

I scowled, wondering what the force had against pickups. “I’d be more willing to speed in a pickup.”

“Agility matters, and pickups corner like they’re on rails. We do not have space to deal with a vehicle that needs thirty feet to turn around. You also need to haul gear for your puppy. Speaking of which, I will go retrieve your puppy along with everything she needs to be happy at your home. In good news, she’s solidly potty trained, so you won’t have to deal with messes. In bad news, she’s a puppy. I’ll see if the trainers can teach her to only chew on her toys and bones. I make no promises, though.”

“What’s her name?”

“She doesn’t have one yet. I’ll talk to Martino and see if she’s ready to head home with you today. Use the puppy to distract your family. I’m sure they’ll love meeting your new partners.”

“If I learn to go over the speed limit, can I have one of the sporty SUVs?”

“If you learn to go over the speed limit, I’ll go find you the fastest SUV on the market. And that way, you can torment Paul, as he will surely want to drive it. I’ll use that damned diamond we got from Smithson’s mother for the purchase. I’m thinking a Bentley. The repair bills are a little kinder than the Lamborghini and the Ferrari. The upper end gas SUVs are all close enough. Maybe a Porsche. They’re competitive and significantly saner on the repair bill.”

“Will the Porsche make Paul cry?”

“Definitely.”

“Anything that’s not electric will do, but making Paul cry for torturing me seems sufficient.”

Captain Farthan chuckled. “Good. With that settled, have you made any progress on the dead weight case?”

“I’ve made progress. Once I’m back to my office with my new wife, I’ll be loading the board with what we’ve learned. After that, I’ll start piecing together pieces. I spoke with Roger last night, and we learned a lot, especially on why he’s a serial killer.”

“Oh? ”

“Roger has some form of sight magic that lets him see people’s souls, and it seems to be unimpaired by distance. His victims were all people who were less than ideal. The FBI earned a lot of favor getting rid of the people who had hurt Dr. Lerrans’s daughter. However, they’re going to be exhuming his sister. There are fears that she’s not his sister. And I don’t like what Roger hinted at.”

“Pedophilia,” Miranda spat. “Roger never was into that sort of thing, and it appears he only targeted people he viewed as bad as himself.”

The opal dragon’s expression turned stony. “I see. I’ll get in touch with our FBI contacts and get a briefing. Good job. Work on your puzzle, and if you find anything of interest, give me a call. Unless my shoes go missing again, I’ll be in the office all day.”

I laughed, grabbed his shoes, and promised to return with them shortly. “If we learn anything, I’ll call you,” I promised.

Thursday, May 3, 2057

Lower North Lakes, Precinct 153

Cauldron City, Nebraska.

It took us the entire day, but thanks to a bunch of phone calls, half of which Miranda handled, doing a search for the Lerrans family name, and digging, we learned that Dr. Timothy Lerrans had, in actuality, been born as Timothy Michael Lerrans. According to the birth certificate I’d scrounged up from a Maine hospital, he’d been born in 1937 and registered as a human with draconic heritage.

He had shown no evidence of being a dragon.

His father had been a red dragon, and his mother had been a human. In 1941, his mother had perished from heart disease.

His father had abandoned him from an early age, something I found to be so unusual I wandered to the captain’s office, knocked, and waited for his permission to enter.

“Come in.”

Rather than say a word, I dropped a quarter of the various reports onto his desk, including the orphanage’s record, which indicated his father had wanted nothing to do with him.

Captain Farthan growled. “This explains a few things, but it doesn’t explain everything. Red dragons are typically more nurturing than this, but they also can have the sight, although it’s something they have to use intentionally, taught to them by their parents in their teens. I’ll put in some calls to see if I can locate his father’s clan and ask some questions. And no, I don’t want you to do it. I can bring Grant out with me, and if there is a fight, I’m a dragon. You are not. This is good information.”

With the real records of the man’s birth, I’d been able to track down his actual education, most of which had taken place while he’d served in the military. The military record had surprised me, but it explained a lot.

I hadn’t yet given the captain those records.

Humans without any form of magic were scorned in the military, as they were viewed as expendable and a liability on the battlefield. Someone like him, the child of a dragon, would have been held in great esteem.

Back then, people had believed that their parentage defined them.

We knew better now, but some people refused to change their set ways.

That fit the puzzle we had to work with nicely, and it also explained his odd ignorances.

Men like him tended to believe everything taught to them in the military, something that would serve us moving forward.

I placed Dr. Lerrans’s military record on top of the captain’s pile, which included his stint as a field medic.

“Now this explains a lot. Well done, Detective Lovell.”

“Miranda did half the footwork. I’ve been teaching her what questions to ask. She’s been catching on quickly.”

“Good. She’s there to help you and learn. What do you think so far, Miranda?”

“Is it legal to use lethal force on this bastard?”

“Yes. If you catch him in a dark alley, feel free to dispose of him in any fashion you like. He’s on the FBI’s list, dead or alive. Preferably, you’ll bring him in dead. He’s gone far beyond what is allowable by modern society, and he will kill again. We just don’t know when or where.”

Or who he would be targeting. I added the information we had on the man’s daughter and the men who’d tormented her.

Captain Farthan regarded those sheets with open disdain. “I resent that the FBI made that problem disappear so efficiently. I would have appreciated a turn with them.”

As I harbored similar feelings, I nodded .

“This is an excellent start. Good work. Pack your things, go home, and enjoy your evening. Stay on your guard and call me if you notice anything at all suspicious.”

“What about the puppy?”

“She is one of the things you will need to pack, yes. I’ll call Martino and have her bring her and her things to your office. He’s been working on her chewing today, so hopefully, you will have furniture left by the time she’s done with you.”

Tonight would test my patience, as I would need to whip out more than a few magicker tricks in order to protect my property—and my coffee—from a puppy’s wicked ways. “I’m sure it will be fine, sir.”

“I wish you the best of luck. You’re going to need it. Miranda, make certain he doesn’t go overboard regarding his new puppy. She’s cute, I’ll give her that much, but he does not need to buy the entire city out of toys and other things for her.”

Miranda saluted. I fled his office before he added to my general misery. Once Miranda closed the door behind her, she said, “I don’t know why he thinks I’m going to be a good influence. I have money, and spending it on a puppy seems like a good thing to spend it on.”

I grinned at her. “We should limit to one toy each tonight, and then we will see how quickly she destroys those toys. How many toys we purchase will be based on how destructive she is and how cute she is while being destructive.”

“That’s a good plan. Just don’t train her to sleep in bed with you. That’s how you end up sleeping on the floor. Wolf-dogs get big, so she’s going to need a big bed.”

“Have you met Mamma Mia already? ”

Miranda shook her head. “No, but someone had pictures of her with everyone. The message on her size was received.”

“We’ll be fine.” It might cost us our sanity, but one way or another, we’d survive the terrible burden of being stuck with a puppy. “We might run the city out of dog food, but we’ll be fine. We might be loved to death, if the captain is to be believed.”

“If I am loved to death, please don’t rescue me. That sounds like a good way to go.”

On that, we were agreed.